Arta’s secret base. And the mechanical beast Arta, appearing there as the final boss.
'This can’t be a coincidence.'
My instincts, sharpened by nearly ten years of playing Dungeon & Stone, told me as much. There’s no way the two just happen to share a name.
'Could it be that using “Final Day” on this island is what lets you meet this thing?'
I don’t know yet. Which means I have to figure it out.
"Raven, use the barrier spell."
"Suddenly? You’ve been telling me not to because of the mana drain."
"This time, I think it’s worth it—even if it costs us. I need to talk."
"Got it."
Upon receiving the order, Raven instantly deployed a dome-shaped barrier around us. Like a kind of umbrella?
Kwaaaaaang—!
Flash—!
Krrrumble—!
A translucent curtain blocked the meteors and lightning crashing down from the sky. Okay, we had the peace and quiet we needed—.
[Oh, interesting. A language system that’s similar to the common tongue, yet different... Still, if someone here speaks the common tongue, that means it hasn’t been entirely lost? Well, it doesn’t really matter either way.]
That’s when the man watching us muttered something.
"Activate neural sync."
That’s when his words started to sound different.
"Now then, can you understand me?"
"......!"
"Huh? Can you really understand him, Marone...?"
"Yes? Yeah... I don’t know how, but I can understand what he’s saying. I know it’s a different language, but somehow, it just... makes sense."
In response to Marone, the man asked cautiously, "Um... is this your first time experiencing neural sync?"
"Uh, yes. I’ve never heard of anything like this."
"Phew... I kind of figured as much from your outfits, but it seems a lot of tech has been lost. Don’t be alarmed. All that’s happening is that I’m syncing the wave circuit emitted by your brain patterns to let us 'understand' each other. It’s normal to feel disoriented at first."
The man, who introduced himself as Arta, said that much before shifting his gaze beyond Raven’s barrier.
And then—
"Yes... this really is the Final Day... Isn’t it exactly how you imagined it?!"
He stared wide-eyed at the storm of meteors and lightning outside, his eyes gleaming with excitement. From the way he suddenly popped out of a mysterious portal to the weird things he kept saying, everything about him screamed suspicious, but oddly enough, he didn’t feel threatening.
Maybe it was because—
"Heh heh... With research results like these, I don’t need to worry about next year’s budget...!"
The way he looked, the way he talked, even the way he dressed... his whole presence was more gloomy than menacing.
"Hey, you said your name was Arta, right?"
"Ah? Yes. Sorry, I got a little distracted. But may I ask—who are you all? And if it’s not too much trouble, could you perhaps explain what’s going on—"
"We’ll be asking the questions."
"Ah...! Yes! Of course, of course. You must be curious yourselves. I’ll answer anything I can. But if I may, could I make one request as well? Oh, nothing major, so please don’t be alarmed!"
"...Speak."
"If I answer everything you ask, would you let me ask a question too? I’m honestly dying to know what’s going on here, ha ha..."
What the hell is with this guy? Is he hiding his power or something? His boldness didn’t match his weak-looking exterior, and it threw me off a bit—but getting information was the priority, so I nodded.
"Fine. I promise."
"Then go ahead. Ask away."
"Who are you?"
"As I mentioned earlier, my name is Arta. Currently—or perhaps I should say formerly—I was the chief researcher at the First Magi-Tech Research Institute of the Empire. Ha ha, not to brag, but only the vice director and director outranked me."
"Research institute...?"
The moment he said that, something clicked in my head and I frowned. The man caught the shift in my expression.
"Oh? Are you familiar with our institution?"
Not exactly. I just had a hunch.
"Was it the one that used monsters as test subjects to make living weapons?"
"Huh? No, that’s not us. Our institute is at the very frontier of magi-tech advancement. Our research may be used to develop weapons, but we’re not a weapons lab."
Hmph... if you say so. The one we explored on Basement Level 1 had the official name of the Panthelion Institute, not this magi-tech whatever.
"Anyway, what’s a big shot like you doing here?"
"What else would a researcher be doing? Research, of course."
"Cut the jokes. We don’t have time for that."
"Ah... true. I suppose from your perspective, time would be a pressing concern. Allow me to explain simply, in a way laypeople can understand... The research we were conducting involved observing the spacetime continuum of the future."
"Observing spacetime...?"
"Yes. Observing the future to change the present—that’s the core of our research."
"...Not the past?"
"Ha ha! You must be referring to time travel. Changing the present through the past was deemed impossible long ago. That’s why we focused on the future."
So the idea is that their research succeeded and this guy was flung into the future?
'Man, this fantasy setting really throws everything in, doesn’t it...'
It’s absurd, but whatever—at least I got the gist.
"By the way, could I ask a quick question? I’ve been dying of curiosity since earlier."
"......"
"What year is it right now?"
Ah. So we’re the future in this setup.
***
RPG stands for “Role Playing Game.”
Literally, a game where you act out a role. Broadly speaking, what I was doing now wasn’t that different. You follow the story in line with the concept, the episode progresses, and eventually, it ends—with a sweet reward waiting at the finish line. That’s why...
'Right now’s the part where you gather the clues to move the story forward.'
That’s what I figured. So I kept talking to him for a long while, pulling information from him. After all, this wasn’t a game where you could just mash the spacebar through dialogue and have everything automatically show up in the quest log.
"The Era of Cataclysm...? Incredible...! You’re saying even the calendar system changed?"
"The world was already destroyed once by a witch, and now only a single city-state ruled by the Lafdonia royal family remains...? Truly astonishing...!"
"Oh, you think I already knew the state of this place? Ha ha... That’s partly true. You see, the coordinates I set for my jump were aimed at the very last point in time—literally, the Final Day!"
"Why would I do that, you ask? Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to know how the world would end!"
"Huh? Scared? Not at all. If my heart stops or I’m in danger, I can return to my original time whenever I want. Back home, we’ve got the best magi-tech engineers standing by—they can bring anyone back, as long as they’re not dead."
"Why magi-tech engineers instead of priests? Wait... are you saying magi-tech knowledge has been lost in this world?"
"And then... what exactly happened to the world? If what you’re saying is true, didn’t the witch who tried to destroy it already die?"
Through our conversation, Arta learned about our side of things, and we, in turn, learned about his. And if I had to summarize...
"So the apocalypse really did happen... I have to learn what caused it—and how to stop it. Travelers from the future! Will you help me? If you lend me your strength, I’ll return to the past and find a way to prevent this tragedy!"
That’s more or less the gist of the quest. And of course, what really matters here is—
"............A reward? You want to know what I can offer? You... you don’t want to stop the end of the world?"
"I’m afraid I have nothing to give you..."
Hmm. So the reward must come some other way. Maybe he’s the key to accessing a treasure room we can’t enter without him. Something like that.
"I was joking. If the world ends, what good is a reward? If there’s even a chance to stop it, I’ll do whatever I can."
"I knew you were kidding!"
So that wraps up the reward talk, framed as a joke.
"Let’s talk while we move."
"Yes, that would be best. I don’t have much time left, anyway."
"Not much time?"
"Oh, I didn’t mention that yet. I can only stay in this time period for a limited duration. So I {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} have to gather as much information as possible before I return."
"And if you don’t make it back in time?"
"Well, I don’t think that’ll happen... but if it does, then I guess I’ll meet the Final Day right here with the rest of you."
"I see."
I let it slide like it was just idle curiosity. I couldn’t exactly tell him the truth, could I? That if nothing useful or rewarding happens while he’s with us, I’m planning to make sure he can’t go back.
'Maybe the real quest only starts if he ends up stuck here.'
It was the kind of hidden element I’d never encountered in the game before—meaning I had to exhaust every possibility.
"Raven! Drop the spell!"
After that, Raven released the barrier spell, and we resumed our full-scale sweep of the island. At the same time—
"Um, Mr. Arta, was it?"
Raven, who hadn’t been able to join the conversation earlier because she’d been focusing on the spell, started talking to Arta herself.
"Mr. Arta?"
"......."
"Do you... not want to talk to me?"
"Ah, no, it’s not that... I’m just a bit shy around new people..."
"You didn’t seem that way with Mr. Yandel."
"......."
I kept my ears open in case something useful came out of their exchange, but so far all I’d learned was that Arta was hopeless with women. And then—
"I’m actually interested in magi-tech myself. Would you mind talking about it with me?"
"Oh! You’re this beautiful, and you’re interested in magi-tech?! Is that true?!"
"...Huh? Uh, yes, I am..."
"Ha ha! Ask me anything. I’ll tell you everything you want to know...!"
Apparently, Arta is weak to beautiful women who like magi-tech.
'...Okay, from now on, if I need to squeeze info out of him, I’ll just have Raven handle it.'
I listened for a bit longer, but it turned into straight-up alien-sounding magi-tech babble, so I skipped it. Still, it was a good thing for Raven to expand her knowledge, so I didn’t interrupt—I just focused on clearing the island.
And then—
「Over 50% of monsters in the area have been defeated.」
「The ancient beast’s power is weakening.」
「Over 60% of monsters in the area have been defeated.」
「The ancient beast’s power is weakening.」
「Over 70% of monsters in the area have been defeated...」
By the time we’d cleared about 70% of the island—
"Ahem... S-sorry, but I really need to focus on gathering more data from this time period."
"Oh..."
"D-don’t worry! I’ll definitely find a way to save you, Miss Raven...!!"
Looked like Arta had finally snapped out of it and was returning to his main objective.
"Mr. Yandel, was it? You mentioned that the source of the apocalypse is a beast... so why haven’t you gone to it directly?"
Seriously? He’s asking that now? How weak is this guy to women, exactly? Unbelievable.
Still, I gave him an answer.
"Because killing the monsters on the island weakens the beast."
"Ah... I see."
"Find anything interesting while we looked around?"
"Um... not really yet."
Yeah, no kidding. He’d been too busy chatting with Raven.
"Oh! But there is one thing!"
"What is it?"
"At the center of the island, where the beast that caused the apocalypse is said to reside—there’s a strange, powerful mana signal coming from that place."
A mana signal, huh... Could it be some hidden area I missed in the game? Or just the boss’s location? Well, either way—we’ll find out soon enough.
「Over 90% of monsters in the area have been defeated.」
「The ancient beast’s power has been nullified.」
Looks like it’s time for the boss fight.
